Kumano Sanzan 熊野三山

Located at the southeastern part of the Kii Mountain Range, Kumano Sanzan
includes the three shrines of "Kumano Hongu Taisha", "Kumano
Hayatama Taisha" and "Kumano Nachi Taisha", and two temples
of "Seiganto-ji" and "Fudarakusan-ji" that are distributed
20 to 40 km apart from each other and connected by "Kumano Sankeimichi
Nakahechi".

Although these three shrines have original distinctive forms, they have
exchanged their gods with each other and have been worshiped as "Kumano
Sansho Gongen".

They came to be revered as the destination of the Kumano Pilgrims by "the
Shinto-Buddhism Unity Theory" that teaches God is the manifestation
of Buddha and the fact that their main gods were considered as the incarnation
of "Amida-nyorai", "Yakushi-nyorai" and "Senju-kannon".

The Seiganto-ji and Fudarakusan-ji became closely associated with Kumano
Nachi Taisha during the Shinto and Buddhism Unification.

Seiganto-ji became well known as the first sacred place of the West Province
Pilgrimage, and Fudarakusan-ji became well known as a temple for the faith
of shipping out to the "Pure Land of Kannon".